The sleeping pill business is worth billions of dollars. The industry makes all that money from people who would give anything for some sleep. If we would realize that rest comes last, we could stop paying all that money. But many of us think rest should come first. And without a doubt, rest is important, as we have been saying all along but it must come last.
I have a friend who relocated to the country a year ago and in that year, he has not had a full week of health. Naturally, he is unable to pray, counsel or preach as long as he is unwell. In other words, he is not fulfilling any useful purpose in God’s vineyard since he is missing Divine Health. And a major reason for his chronic ill health is a failure to realize that rest comes last.
He is spending time trying to sleep because he knows the importance of sleep. But sleep does not come unless and until you have worked hard. One of the doctors who took care of us while we were in high school knew that very well. Anytime you went to him with a complaint of inability to sleep, he did not give you pills. On the back of his door, he had a tennis racket.
He would reach for it and hand it to you. You were to ensure you played a hour of tennis every day for the following seven days. After that, you should return for a follow-up visit but be sure to bring the racket. He knew that by then, you would be sleeping like a baby. He could put his racket back in its place for the next patient who would complain of not being able to sleep.
For God, Rest Comes After Work
What that doctor knew was that rest comes last, well after physical exercise, even after eating and a peaceful mind. You know, if you have been with us for a while, that we have already dealt with the mind. We have considered nutrition and exercise. And now we are on the fourth aspect of divine health. Don’t forget the reason we are on this journey to health.
It is so that we will not die young and fail to fulfill God’s purpose. All the other aspects on which we have written must come before you can have a good night rest. On all accounts, rest comes last. That is when you become God’s beloved because you are imitating Him. The bible says God gives you sleep. Otherwise, you may spend most of your life tossing and turning, looking for rest and sleep.
Now, the bible does not say anything about God’s activities before we meet Him in the first chapter of Genesis. Was He resting before doing all that work of creation? Did rest come first for God or did rest come last as we have been saying? We have to deduce that from other aspects of the Genesis account and other scriptures.
Immediately after the introduction to the chapter, we see God taking an inventory of the situation. You could say he was taking stock or evaluating the world. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. God was busy working even before He started creation.
For You Too, Rest Comes Last
All this to say God did not start with rest as many of us would like to think and do. If you start with rest before work, you will need sleeping tablets and make the pharmacy very rich and happy. Besides, since God is our best example and he put rest last, so should we. Which is why you don’t see manual workers needing valium or such tablets to sleep.
They work hard and for them, rest comes last, just like God who rested after He completed His work. With that strategy, you can put the sleep industry out of business. A lady asked to walk with me this morning, because as she said, she did not see anybody else of her skin color.
I allowed her and enjoyed our time together. I was able to let her know the reason she did not see people of color walking in the mall. They are too busy earning a living to have time for leisure walks. She hadn’t thought of that but said it made sense. For manual workers, rest comes last and is sweet. They do not need medication to fall asleep.
But there is another aspect of the sleep industry that is very interesting. It is the huge mattress and pillow industry. Depending on where you live, you see a constant advertisement of all types of mattresses. Copper-infused, square foam, round foam, warm mattress, cool mattress, changing-temperature mattress and so on and so forth.
You cannot help wondering how people were able to sleep in an earlier time when they only had one type of mattress. Could it be that they worked hard and that for them, rest came last? And then there are the pillows. Side pillows, back pillows, front pillows, hugging pillow, round pillows etc. The reason we need so much help before we can sleep is that fail to understand how rest comes last.
Once you realize that, you can flush your sleeping tablets down the drain.
To your health!
Maranatha!
